Sanders' Live Stream speech

You can skip about the first 15 minutes of this recording as it is just people wandering around until the speeches get started:

[video:https://youtu.be/ovp7NZyBSWc]

The transcription is part of a live stream from The Guardian, so I don't have a good link:

Speaking to the crowd of 1,500 supporters at the Town Hall theater in Midtown Manhattan, Bernie Sanders promises that although his path to the Democratic presidential nomination remains uncertain, his “political revolution” will continue.

“The main point that I’m gonna make tonight,” Sanders says, “is this political rev is not about Bernie Sanders, it’s not about Nina Turner - it’s about you and millions of other people.”

In the political revolution inspired by his candidacy, Sanders says, “you are the revolutionaries! And what this campaign has shown, not just in winning 13 million votes, not just taking on the establishment all over this county, what is has shown is that millions of people are prepared to stand up, fight back and create the nation that we know we can become.”

The audience explodes into applause.

“All of you know, who have studied history, that election days come and go but what is much more important is that political and social revolutions continue.”

Bernie Sanders reminds the audience that other social movements, like those for civil rights and women’s suffrage, lasted for decades before eventually succeeding. Remind yourselves, Sanders tells the crowd, to the “people who were killed, people who were beaten, people who were jailed standing up for dignity and human rights.”

“Think about the gay movement! Think about Stonewall!” Sanders says. “Think about the revolutionary changes that have taken place because the gay community and their straight allies said that people should have, must have, he right to be with who they love, regardless of gender!”

“I want you al to remember - now I was there, I’m a little bit older than many of you,” Sanders jokes, bringing laughs from the youthful crowd, “but people stood up proudly and with dignity and they continued the fight for gay rights.”

Thirty-one years ago, Sanders signed a proclamation as mayor of Burlington, Vermont, declaring June 22 “Gay Pride Day.”

What our campaign has been about and is about is saying - sorry! we’re thinking big, we want real change!

The audience leaps to its feet, chanting “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!”

“Real change is not easy and real change never takes place from the top on down - always from the bottom on up,” Bernie Sanders says, echoing a line frequently used in his stump speeches. “And that is what our political revolution is all about.”

Sanders reveals that his new schedule of upcoming events - unusual for a candidate who has functionally lost the nomination but has not yet conceded - will be held in support of downballot candidates seeking to enter politics.

In Syracuse tomorrow evening, Sanders says, “we’ll be campaigning for a guy who is running for the United States Congress - I am gonna do everything I can do make sure that he wins. We are gonna go back to California and campaign for a woman running for the state senate in California and make sure that she wins!”

“We’re gonna go all over this country, because that is what this political revolution is all about!” Sanders says. “It’s not about me - it’s about people at the grassroots level. It’s about people running for school boards, for mayor, for the state legislature!”

“You know what? You can beat the establishment,” Bernie Sanders says, in reference to his primary campaign. “We won! In New York state, we had to take on the entire Democratic establishment.”

“I have no doubt that a strong, well-organized grassroots movement can take on the establishment and can defeat the establishment, and that is precisely what we have got to do and what the political revolution is about.”

For those unfamiliar with Sanders’s stump speech, much of what follows largely reiterates aspects of the same speech he has been giving for more than a year.

“In this campaign, in every single state, we won, often by big numbers, the votes of young people!” Sanders says. “What it means is that our vision, a vision of economic, social, racial, environmental justice is the vision of the people who will create the future of America!”

“In this campaign, hundreds of thousands of volunteers made 75 million telephone calls,” Sanders says. “And we are just getting started!”

Bernie Sanders tells the audience that supporters on limited incomes who raised money for his campaign were in it to win it.

“Because we love you!” a voice shouts from the crowd.

“Nonono - not about me!” Sanders responds, as the audience laughs and applauds.

Finally touching on the issue of “where we go from here,” Bernie Sanders tells the crowd that he has “great people” involved in the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia who will push his populist agenda.

“We have great people on the rules committee, and one of the issues that we’re going to push for on the rules committee is to end closed primaries!” Sanders says. “It is also a fight to end the absurd situation where superdelegates can overrule the rule of the people!”

“We might as well transform the entire Democratic party!”

“Some people think that it is idealistic, that it is utopian, to talk about making a moral economy in which the function of the economy is to provide wealth for children and the elderly and the middle class,” Sanders says.

“That is the practicality of what we have got to do, and what we can do!”

“We cannot allow ourselves to become used to the fact that we’ve got hundreds of thousands of children in this country who are homeless!” Sanders says. “That is our greatest danger - becoming used to it and thinking that it is normal. It is not normal - it is an outrage!”

“Never, ever lose your sense of outrage!”

The audience goes wild - “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!”

“You know, I think most Americans would agree that when we talk about what constitutes a great nation, it is not the number of billionaires that you have, it is not the number of nuclear weapons you have, it is how you treat the most vulnerable people in the country,” Bernie Sanders says, again reiterating nearly verbatim a frequent adage from his stump speech.

“And year after year after year, the numbers cry out at us,” Sanders says. “This country today has the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. These children are the future of this country, and they are growing up in extremely bad conditions. Housing is inadequate, nutrition is inadequate, childcare is inadequate. That is not acceptable if you are a patriotic person who loves this county - you’ve gotta love the children of this country!”

The audience leaps to its feat for roughly the twentieth time.

“There are schools in America where more of the kids in those schools end up in jail than they do graduating college,” Sanders continues, before dropping another frequent invocation: “Maybe its time for us to invest in jobs and education for our young people, not jails and incarceration!”

Bernie Sanders has gone into full stump-speech-mode, railing against the pharmaceutical industry for the high cost of healthcare, and intimating that the mainstream media fails to cover the high prices of prescription drugs because of advertising revenue.

“I was very proud to see that now a majority of Democrats in fact support a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system,” Sanders says. “Here is an issue that together we have brought to the floor, and it ain’t never gonna go away.”

“We have got to make public colleges and universities tuition-free!” Sanders says, reiterating another popular plank of his candidacy. “I have no doubt, I have zero doubt that this is a fight that we’re going to win.”

Speaking of the six-figure debt of many college graduates, Sanders says: “That is nonsense - it is unacceptable.”

“I think it makes a lot more sense to invest in education for all of our people than to give tax breaks to billionaires!” Sanders says, to sustained applause. “And what started year ago is a radical idea - nobody thinks its radical anymore.”

“Children sleep out in the street and are undernourished and corporations do not pay a nickel in federal taxes - that, together, we are going to change.”

“This campaign is about building a broad-based grassroots campaign organization,” Sanders says. “This campaign is about bringing millions of people into the political process. This campaign is about empowering people to understand that democracy is not a spectator sport, and that when we stand together, we can transform this country.”

“Right now,” Sanders says, “there are meetings of the Democratic platform committee - we have five people on it. The platform that will come out of the Democratic convention will be, by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the party.”

“But the platform is 50 or 60 pages of paper,” Sanders says. “That platform doesn’t mean anything unless we make certain that those ideas are incorporated into public policy!”

The audience leaps to its feat.

“We’re gonna take a hard look at our disastrous trade policies, making sure that the TPP is dead!” Sanders says, of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “And, in Orlando, appropriately enough, we’re gonna fight to make sure that we ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons, that we end the gun-show loophole.”

“If you were talking to somebody from another world, and you had to explain the Republican rules on guns, and you said that we have lists of people who can’t get on planes,” Sanders says, “but no problem, they can walk into a gun store, people would think you were crazy!”

“A corrupt campaign finance system breeds corrupt public policy,” Bernie Sanders says. “So right now, you have profitable corporations making billions of dollars a year in profit, that in a given year, put their money in the Cayman Islands and in a given year do not pay a nickel in federal taxes!”

If the theme of tonight’s speech is “Where We Go From Here,” it’s fair to wonder, one hour into Bernie Sanders’ address, if we will ever get there.

“How long do we have to tolerate that kind of greed, which has done so much harm to this country?” Sanders says of Wall Street banks. “We gotta break them up!”

The audience, indefatigable, leaps to its feet and chants “BREAK THEM UP! BREAK THEM UP! BREAK THEM UP!”

“We understand that Trump is so - I mean, it’s hard almost to imagine - a man who has such limited capabilities becoming president,” Sanders says, sounding horrified. “What is even uglier is that you think about the struggles that we have gone through as a nation - the hundreds of years fighting against racism, fighting against sexism, and that this guy is making the cornerstone of his campaign bigotry!”

Trump, Sanders says, “is insulting Mexicans and Latinos, insulting Muslims, insulting women, insulting African Americans ... We have got to work tirelessly to make sure that Trump is not president - but that is not good enough! What we have got to do is to continue the vision of transforming this country.”

“And most importantly, I know that we can do that, is for all of us to get involved in the political prrocess. We need great peopel on school baords on city councils,” Sanders says.

“Let me just say: The struggle continues!” Sanders says, as David Bowie’s Starman plays and he exits the stage after a 75-minute speech.

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riverlover's picture

He called the Democratic party undemocratic, which we know is true. And may have used the C-word there as well. Multitasking, I don't have the transcript.

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WindDancer13's picture

It is a fantastic speech. The transcript that I am copying from is from a Guardian link, but it is a temporary thing. It is also missing a lot of points, but at least those who cannot watch get the gist of what he is saying.

I will post the YouTube version whenever it comes up.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Steven D's picture

Live tweeted parts of it.

Great speech, not one that someone who has given up makes. No mention of Clinton either.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

WindDancer13's picture

It is like there will be a parallel government. Sanders, the revolution and the people will be making changes with or without her.

A thought that crossed my mind while listening to this though was that while HRC is busy choosing the bands for the convention, Sanders and partners are working to put together something far more pleasing for the ears of We the People--Democracy.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

Did wonders for my peace of mind. Bernie is between a rock and a hard spot. I would like him take on Hillary, the voter fraud, the FBI investigations on both candidates. No way in hell any of it can be ignored. If he tries for the good of party, he hurts his movement.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Shahryar's picture

and oh, by the way (as Bernie likes to say), the next time his people push his stump speech as an important new message I'll ignore it and read a summary later, if there should accidentally be anything new.

Not that I disagree with anything in the speech. But, like you, I want him to take on those issues.

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WindDancer13's picture

not be filtered through someone else's lens; therefore, I watch televised speeches. The transcript stuff I posted missed a lot of his points (not to mention the enthusiasm), and as it probably won't be reported in full or in context elsewhere, the speech is the only way to see what the plan is for the revolution.

He has said many times before that the FBI investigation will take its course. Why she he politicize it. It is a criminal case. The voter fraud cases are going forward with or without him. His focus is on change, and that is where is strength is.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

riverlover's picture

No vote on TPP in Congress

Ban assault weapons

Expand Social Security

Floor fight @Convention for modern Glass-Steagle

Big Bank breakup

Deal w/CC yesterday, Carbon tax, massive weatherization projects, more Alt energy (lead the world)

Dept of Defense waste, shame on us for arbitrary regime change, regional destabilization

I think he is still talking platform, but...

Our campaign is Not just about defeating Trump, continue this vision of transforming the country. The Struggle Continues.

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Steven D's picture

all things HRC may say she supports maybe, kinda but we know she is fighting against.

That is why he is continuing these rallies - not to beat Trump.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

Roger Fox's picture

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FDR 9-23-33, "If we cannot do this one way, we will do it another way. But do it we will.

PriceRip's picture

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Steven D's picture

No amount of election fraud could have allowed Hillary to win. He is by far the best person running for President.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

WindDancer13's picture

The only MSM that I have been able to find lately that is actually doing a fairly decent job of reporting Sanders is USA Today, and yet he is still a candidate running against a person under an FBI investigation (not that MSM has noticed that either).

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

he made a great point about health insurance: by tying it to people's jobs, we are forcing folks to work at jobs they hate instead of leaving and starting their own business.

if GOP actually gave a fuck about entrepreneurs, they'd have been all over this from the get to.

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did 9 months in California prison, because Neoliberal Democrats and GOP maggots work together to profit off the drug war

WindDancer13's picture

It is not often that I say that I actually enjoyed watching a speech, but this one I thought was much better than most.

He beamed both Dems and Reps tonight for neither party caring about the people.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

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did 9 months in California prison, because Neoliberal Democrats and GOP maggots work together to profit off the drug war

EyeRound's picture

Sounds like he's/we're just gearing up!

A bit puzzled, though, about his event tomorrow in Albany, on his way to Syracuse. The Albany event is at somebody's house, described as a "cape cod" house (not some mansion). The event notice says that 30 people have signed up and attendance is closed. ???

They're going to have 30 people in the house, 3,000 people outside!

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WindDancer13's picture

From Bernie Sanders in Albany Friday, on 'Where We Go From Here'

Sanders will speak in the Lewis A. Swyer Theatre, 1 Empire State Plaza, with doors opening at 11 a.m.. The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are encouraged, but admission is first come, first served.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

EyeRound's picture

Last night I only found this event listed but I see now that he'll also be speechifying!

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riverlover's picture

but I supposed to be busy here, 1 hour away. And I was at the OnCenter a month ago, parking is rough and the OnCenter occupies (haha) several blocks and approach to which door... which street.... I am in NY-23, not -24 where the Berniecrat is. sigh.

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